If you want a perfect dev team you should have a team like this:
First of all, you should have a big project (or some big/long projects your team works on).
This cannot work on small projects like presentation websites that take less than 1 month to make, and then begone with it.
You should have an intern who just graduated a very good university, and his role should be only to create Proof of Concepts.
Let him put in practice complex algorithms, put him close to business team, to undestand the business image of the project, and explain that he needs to bring value to the team by improving the quality of the project.
Let him explore and apply what he just learned (machine learning, complex algorithms).
You should also have an architect that should not code like devs do, instead, let him explore. He will do some architect stuff from time to time (ex: help with new server setups, help with scalability, etc), but in the spare time (which will be a lot) let him improve the apps, find new ways of doing things, etc.
In the end, you should have some great devs, that are passionate about writing code, and these are the guys that creates new feature, work like this is a contest to win 1 billion dollars.
For this to work, all should know their place, should love their place, and should not “aspire” for other things (ex: a dev should not aspire to be an architect, and vice versa).
I’m saying this because if someone really loves what he does, he will do amazing things, and he will be part of 0.1% of people on their areas (the best ones).
And no, this is not “utopic”. This can really happen. It is the HR and team leader’s job to find the perfect people mix, that loves their position, those in the 0.1% of their fields.
And yes, the team needs a very good team leader, that knows how to manage people and situations.
Also, he needs to find a perfect mix, to continuously change the mix if needed, and also to keep peace beside team members.
He doesn’t have to be a scarry guy, but he surely needs to continuosly push people for improvements.
He also needs to be understanding, and to let people work in their own peace.
Ex: some guys come to work at 11 AM, others at 8 AM. Some take a lot of “work from home” days, others don’t. This should be fine and no one should be “sanctioned”.
From my experience, good people integrate really really fast with the projects and are productive from day #1, so it’s ok for him to change people until he finds a good mix. “If you drag team down, we’re sorry but you should leave”
Also, the continuous feedback should be present, and team members should not be embarrassed to speak their heart and be honest and sincere.
If you think another people is dragging the team down, say it to your team leader, and the team leader should give advices to the other guy how to improve. If it’s not working after few tries, sorry, bye bye.
Yes, we’re human, but it’s bad for everyone to keep a person who drag things down. Everyone is miserable about their job, no good things.
A perfect mix is heaven for everyone, and beside the fact that everyone is happy with their job and really improves themselves, with this it comes more money, more good things in each one’s lifes.
So for everyone’s good, be sincere, give feedback often, decide what you love to do, stick with it, be in the 0.1% zone of your field of expertise, find the perfect mix, change it when it’s not perfect anymore.
With love,
A dev.
